What Love Can Do
by rubioestupido
Summary: When Suna is in dire need of help, Konoha comes to the rescue. Sakura heals Gaara after an attack. While there, she learns that getting to know Gaara is harder than it looks, even if he is attracted to her. Gaara's POV
1. Chapter 1

It was the first rain in Suna since last summer. I looked out of my window from the tower with a smile to see the citizens of Suna rushing around collecting the excess water in buckets, as the children ran and played merrily in it. Turning back around to my desk, I looked down at the paper work that needed to be finished. I disliked ever having to do such work, since I could never fully concentrate on it, my mind always wandering against my will. Then suddenly, as if a distraction was called for me out of luck, there was a knock at the door.

"Kazekage-sama?"

I looked up to see one of my personal guards standing with an urgent look on his face. I had figured so much from the edge in his voice. Something was wrong.

"What's wrong Isao?"

"The council is calling a meeting. It's about the Sound. The elder Ebizo-sama would also like to see you afterwards."

Ebizo… the elder whose sister saved my life. I owe my life twice over to him after what Chiyo baa sama did for me. I was curious as to what he wanted to discuss with me.

I decided that I should just get this meeting over with, so I headed out the door, followed by Isao. Naturally I had gotten used to everyone following me around. It seemed like with this power bestowed upon me, politically that is, I had grown in such a status that was unconceivable in my childhood. It was something I appreciated though, having so many people care about me. After the day that I returned to Suna, restored from death, I had looked upon my village with such a love that I never thought I had inside of me. My people mean everything to me, and this job just makes it all the easier to show.

I entered the council room and took my seat at the head of the table. I looked around, everyone staring intently at me, assuming that I already knew the situation and what we were going to do about it. I merely nodded to Baki, signaling him to start the meeting.

"Kazekage-sama, we have been informed of a rumor that the Sound village has planned an attack on Suna." The younger council member cleared his throat, "We were told to take immediate precaution and to close the gates to the village. Are there any other options? Is this a serious matter or a scare?"

"I wouldn't say it is a scare at all! You know what the Sound has been up to. Don't you remember our previous alliance with them? It's only obvious that the Sound would want to make sure the people who received large amounts of information about the Sound were dead!" One older councilman remarked snidely.

"Hardly so. The Sound hasn't been moving around for a while now. How can we expect them to just suddenly attack? What would be the instigator of these rumored attacks?" another chimed in.

Baki's voice was clearly heard over the mass of comments all coming out at once, "All we know is that the sound has gathered more men and are growing in number and skill. All we need is another attack to the village after what happened to our Kazekage the last time." He turned and looked directly at Gaara. " Kazekage-sama, I would hope that you understand the danger you could be in."

I nodded at the comment, and knowing Baki, I gave him the authority to do what he believes best in these types of situations. He understood from my nod and came to his conclusion then and there.

"We will call for backup from our alliance in Konoha. The gates will not be closed, but I will be calling our skilled jounin to the entrance of the village. Are there any objections to that, Kazekage-sama?"

I shook my head, confirming that I agreed with his idea. I let out a sigh waited until everyone else had dispersed. This is how meetings always were. Just me sitting at a table, acting authoritative and then having everyone else speak for me. Sometimes I really wish they would let me get a word in edge wise, but I trusted Baki with all my military advice. He _was_ one of the most esteemed ninjas of our village. I would anticipate the arrival of our Konoha relief instead of worrying about things that he had under control.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone! Oh my, this is my first authors note! I just want to say thank you to all who have taken the time to read this. If there are any problems that you see, just tell me! I'm totally open to any kind of criticism, I'm here to become a better writer. Now I know I said "I update every week," and I was totally lying, since the past two weeks I had a play and it was HELL. I won't bore you with description, but know that that won't happen anymore (Thank God). Happy Thanksgiving to all yall out there too!

Rubio

I headed towards Ebizo Sama's to find out what he wanted to talk about. On my way I observed the youth of Suna at play, in training and with their parents. I was so proud of the comeback that Suna was making; it was almost like a miracle. A ball suddenly whizzed past my head, and by reflex I caught it.

"Kazekage-Sama! I'm sorry!" cried a little boy with brown tousled hair.

The rest of the group joined in also, making a chime of "We are so sorry!" and "Please forgive us!" I simply smiled warmly and tossed the ball gently back to one of them. I turned to leave when I heard one of them say to the others,

"Gaara-Sama is SO amazing! I want to be just like him!"

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. If only they knew what I had to go through to get to where I am today. True I was more mature, my biju was extracted, and the whole incident with Naruto had somehow miraculously changed my outlook on life, but there was a part of me that I feel had not been filled yet. I shrugged off the feeling as I entered Ebizo's dwelling.

I peaked my head around the screen and called out to him.

"Back here my friend!" he hollered from the back of the house. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I heard his voice. He always made me feel so comfortable and at ease with his informality. I found him sitting in a chair on his back porch; staring out into the small garden with the fishpond he and Chiyo used fish in. No doubt he was thinking about how much he still missed his sister. I sat down next to him in silence just listening to the cicadas. We sat there for a moment, both knowing what the other was thinking, when suddenly I felt compelled to break the silence with some condolences.

"I had a deep respect for your sister."

"Many people did. She was a wonderful woman, Chiyo. The worst part is not seeing her everyday," he sighed. "She made it easier to live out life as an old man." I heard the sadness in his voice, like it had been festering inside for a while now. I looked at him for a moment, and he did something that I did not expect out of him. He smiled, small at first, and then bigger, until he started laughing. It was contagious. I started laughing as well. I suddenly thought about Chiyo Sama and all the rambunctious things she did, even in her old age. She was a whip, and sharp as a tack. Although I could not even fathom the things Ebizo was thinking of at that moment, I knew they were happy memories of a noble woman. And in that instant I knew that Chiyo was there with us, in spirit, laughing with us.

After we had stopped laughing and sat outside for a while, Ebizo stood.

"Well, I guess we should get down to business now, correct? I didn't want to talk to you for nothing!" he stood and shuffled into the small kitchen area inside. After sitting at the small round table in the middle, I pulled up a chair to it.

"You know about the rumors, I am sure," I nodded at the statement. "Well, I have a foreboding feeling about this. It seems all too true, with the Sound being on the move lately, since the Chunnin exams this past year. And it is true that they haven't had any instruction from Orochimaru in a long time. Think about it Gaara Sama, we do not have a very good history with sound any more. What could we do if they suddenly attack? It's not like it used to be, Konoha has been our one strong alliance for these past years, and you know that is the truth."

I couldn't help but shrug at this whole thing. It seemed unbelievable to me, and yet, everyone was extremely nervous. But as Kazekage, my duty was to protect my people, and I would never fail to do so, even if I needed to give my life for this job.

"I understand, and the council has already advised we call in Konoha. They are sending in some of their best ninjas as soon as they get the message. It was sent earlier this morning."

"Good, good, a wise decision. I can only pray that the worst will not happen. But, my dear friend, I do think you should not be fighting if it is not necessary. We don't want you taken from us again, we have already lost you once." At this statement I couldn't help but get a little irked. I needed to be out there defending my village. Why would I stand aside and watch my men get killed before I came into a sticky situation. It seemed foolish to me, and yet I could see where Ebizo was coming from.

"I can not do that. I must fight with my people, as an equal, not an overseer. The respect I have for my people is comparable to the respect I have for myself. I could not do that to them." Ebizo frowned at me, but I could see a look of reverence in his eyes. He respected my opinion.

"I guess I understand. At least be careful, if not for me, then for Chiyo."

"I give you my word, Ebizo." And with that, I got up and left, heading towards my office.

When I got back, I found out that we had received no word from Konoha yet. I was worried, what if the offending Nin caught our bird on their way? My mind was troubled all evening as I mulled over documents and papers, not even comprehending what I was really reading. I finally set everything down and got up. I didn't know what I was doing, actually, driven by intuition. I looked out my window only to see dark purple, and the sand reflected by the large moons glow. Only a few houses were light as I skimmed the city from the tower. Sighing, I went for a walk through the hall, thinking of the possibilities of battle. What were we going to do? What if the force is larger than we expect? I decided that talking to my strategist would probably be a good idea, although we would most likely follow the normal groupings and formations that we used. I found myself pacing up and down the same hallway. I was getting nervous, and for no reason. I was just worried about Konoha. Would they send reinforcements? Or would they dismiss the letter as not as important as we are making it out to be?

I was tracing the lines in the desert sand outside my office window. Pulling it up and down now and then to make skittish designs. Nerves on end and wires fried, I sat down at my desk and drooped my head over my work. I really didn't want to scare my people, but it seemed right to have the precautions. Something in my gut was telling me that this was legitimate and I was making the right choice.

Suddenly my door slammed open and a shinobi was crouching down catching his breath and clutching to the doorframe.

"Kazekage-sama! We are being attacked!"

My eyes widened in surprise. This early? We had only heard about this for a short amount of time and our preparations were still not yet ready. I had to hurry now; there was no time to be wasted in this situation. I blew past the winded shinobi and set out for the entrance to Suna. Baki had already begun the evacuation of the village, bringing them all to the back. I had the sand under my feet raise me up for an aerial view of the fight so far. This was bad. There were too many. I automatically looked for Baki, and he was instructing some shinobi, most likely to call in the less experienced, since at the moment we only had jounin at the front of the village. I decided to head into battle at once, the men at the front needing my help more than I needed Baki's.

I sent down a stream of sand from my gourd onto the encroaching enemy. At once, my men knew what was going on a jumped out of the sand's way. Sending it whizzing through the enemy, the sand picked off as many as it could zigzagging through my shinobi to the adversaries. Cries were coming out from every direction. I stayed in the air on my sand, getting a better view from the angle. I sent waves of the sand through, trying to get as many as I could into its grasp. Then suddenly, I saw an attack come at me from behind. Two kunai came straight towards me at my head. I used my sand to block them off, and they exploded into the sand. Explosive kunai? Before I could even think, I dodged another attack and headed towards the ground. Someone was purposefully attacking me. They knew who I was, and I knew I was the main target here. To hide myself in between my men would be impossible with my abilities. I stood around a mass chaos, now with jounin and chunnin fighting; we were almost equal in number. I suddenly wondered where Konoha was. I found Baki finishing off a Sound Ninja with a slice of his wind. I ran up to him and we took our normal positions back to back. I informed him of the attacker who had noticed me in the air. He nodded and kept an eye out for me while I used my desert coffin on an offending attacker. To use one of my powerful attacks now would be too risky, with the amount of my men mixed in with the Sound. I silently cursed this plan, it was too impulsive and I wish we had discussed things further at the meeting. We were not ready for the attack so soon.

Suddenly, I was hit with a wave of dizziness. I couldn't see straight. I stumbled a bit, and my sand faltered. Baki turned to me.

"What's wrong!?"

"Dizzy," was all I could spit out.

Baki looked around, suddenly aware of a distanced attacker. I saw her too. She was tall and had a dark gleam of curls around her. She held a violin and was smiling wickedly. Perched high on a rock, squatting, she ran her bow across the strings of her violin. I knew this was bad. I heard a high-pitched sound, and companied with it was a wave of dizziness over myself and many others in the crowd, except for the Sound nin. This was her technique. I shook my head, trying to clear it. I needed to get up to her. I lifted myself to her, violently throwing out my sand to her. She was quick, jumping from rock to rock on the ledges. She was luring me. She wanted to get me away from my Shinobi. What she didn't know is that she underestimated me. Alone, I could do much more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Woah! Do I sense some plot in this chapter? YES. Enjoy guys! Any comments welcome, I'm here to become a better, believable writer.**

**~Rubio**

Trying to not get too cocky, I set my mind on a strategy. We obviously both favored distance in combat. Could it be possible that her weakness was taijutsu? If it were true, it wouldn't help me any; I was horrible in taijutsu too. I decided to keep my distance for the time being. She stared at me and wagged a finger.

"You underestimate me, Oh Great Kazekage," she spit out like poison. I laughed under my breath, thinking about how close to my thoughts those words really were. Maybe this would be interesting.

She drew her bow again snickering at me, growing into a cackle. She was definitely sure of herself, I could tell. She viciously pulled the bow across her instrument again, making a shrieking chord. I cringed, and tried blocking out the sound by using a slash of my sand, but it didn't help, the sound penetrating through my skull, vibrating up and down in my head. A sudden wave of dizziness came over me again, but I needed to think! I sifted through the information we had gathered about the Sound so far. Well, I knew sound played with vibrations, just like her attacks. But what about the vibrations…Oh! When they hit something solid, they bounce back don't they? That's why the noise was rattling my brains anyway.

She sent another chord my way, and this time, I put up a barrier of sand and the somber chord bounced back at her, forcing her to jump at her own attack. I had figured her out, and she knew it.

"What an understanding of sound!" she mocked. "Let's see if you can understand nature!"

She pulled out a scroll, biting thumb and rubbing it across the parchment. Water suddenly appeared under her and she flung a strike at me. It hit me pretty hard, knocking my wind out and bringing me to the ground. I scrambled to get my sand around me, as the water grew bigger around me. I closed myself off in my sand, just before the water came down at a crushing speed, delivering what would have been a fatal attack. I sighed in relief and dispersed my sand a bit to see what she was planning next. When I looked for her perched on her ledge, she was gone. I looked around frantically only to find nothing, and then from behind I felt a presence and swiveled on my feet to meet her attack with a block of sand. I sent my chakara infused shooting out to her, only yards away now, and aimed for her vital organs, or at the least a limb. Grabbing her, my sand made way for my next move, sand binding coffin. I grabbed her and squeezed my fist, crushing her, but instead of a death, I got a burst of water. It was a clone the entire time. I whirled around only to be met with a swift rush of more water around me. I was suddenly trapped inside a water prison.

The woman's hand was holding together the cell in which I was trapped, laughing, a clone standing next to her.

"Do you know enough about sound to know what it can do in water, Kazekage?"

My eyes widened suddenly as vibrations shook my prison sending my whole body into convulsions. The sound was so amplified by the water around me that I couldn't hear myself think. I tried to coax my sand toward me, a futile attempt, only causing my head to hurt even more. I felt sick, like I was about to vomit, and then I slipped into oblivion.

The next time I woke up, it was bright and smelled funny. My eyes hadn't adjusted to the light, but I caught the sent of Konoha in the room. It had a distinct smell, unlike anything else I had experienced in the desert. An intake of breath told me someone was next to me. As my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I saw my good friend Naruto sitting in a chair next me. I was in the hospital.

"Oh, finally! Gaara! You've been out for two days!" he exclaimed, too loudly for my ears to handle at the moment. I cringed at the sound and groaned. "Oops, sorry, I forgot about your injuries for a second…but other than that, how do you feel?!" he whispered enthusiastically. I stared blankly for a moment, not remembering why I was here. Oh no! My people, what happened to them all? What was the fate of my village?

"What happened to the Sound shinobi?"

"Eh, we won, no biggie though! I beat that girl that trapped you though. I don't have anything against you, though, she was tough to beat, but it was fun! Sakura helped a little though…" he trailed off.

"What did I do?" a woman's voice perked up from the door of my hospital room.

"Ha! We were just talking about how we beat that girl with the violin!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh, well then I guess I did help didn't I," she smiled. She sauntered into the room, over to the edge of my bed. "Gaara Sama, how do you feel? Are there any specific areas that hurt?"

I was suddenly tongue tied, I couldn't think of what to say, because in that moment sea green eyes caught me.

"I uh um…bad?"

"HA! If I were you that would be an understatement," Naruto blurted out.

"Be quiet you baka! His eardrums are still recovering. Ugh, sometimes I really think you have no ability to process thought." I cocked my head at her immediate change in mood, from professional to violent in seconds. What an outlandish, yet sharp-witted girl she was. All too quickly though, she was abruptly touching me, and I panicked, my heart rate increasing. No one ever touched me. She sensed my edginess.

"Sorry, I'm just checking to see how everything is doing," she said quite professionally. "Well, all I can say is, you still need a lot of rest, and you really can't be subjected to regular sound decibels yet. The average human talks at about 60 decibels, except loud mouth over here, but your processing 60 as if it were a 90-decibel conversation. Its quite a jump, you see, and I worry about exposing you to anything above normal conversation, even though I am helping you along by my own means. You also had a nasty break in two ribs and a small fracture in your collarbone. But that was nothing I couldn't fix instantly on the battle field," She added flippantly.

I stared at her, almost unable to comprehend her intelligence. I understood every word she said; yet she said it in such a way that made me feel like I knew nothing about medical jutsus. Of course I had never had the ability for that kind of thing, but I did have to study up, I am Kazekage and all. I now remembered that Sakura was supposedly the up and coming medic nin in the fire country. But who could doubt that when she had the current Hokage, Tsunade Sama, as her sensei.

"What will you have me do Haruno Sama?"

"Oh, enough with the formality, Gaara Sama, call me by my first name. Anyway, I am instructed to help you along in your recovery, but I am needed for further border patrol, as well as Naruto. It will only take a couple of sessions to fix everything up, so I won't be a bother to you for long."

I nodded, "I guess I will be staying here for a while then?"

"Not really, we should be able to just put these in your ears and you can get back to quiet work, nothing too straining. Probably just work in your office for the time being, okay?" She handed me some wax earplugs and smiled. With that she left the room and I couldn't help but watch her until she passed the doorframe.

"Hey, I'll let you sleep Gaara, you still kind of need it," Naruto whispered attentively. I grabbed his arm as he got up and he looked back at me in shock.  
"Get me Baki. I need to have a full report on the battle that took place," my distressed tone making Naruto anxious.  
"Yeah, no problem man," he said softly.  
As he left, he looked back over his shoulder with an uneasy look. In that moment I realized how much I valued Naruto as a friend. I was glad I had started forming friendships in my life, instead of hiding myself from everyone. Although I still needed to work on the emotional part, I knew I had many people who cared about me. The day I came back from the village, along with my Konoha friends, was such a stirring experience for me. My entire village, there waiting, and all for me. Being carried in by my brother and Naruto, and Sakura at the front, helping carry in Chiyo. What was she to me then, a respectable ninja? Was I so blinded by other events that I had not even noticed the kunoichi until now? She unnerved me somehow…


	4. Chapter 4

**Ahhhh! Sorry guys, I went to an awesome dance with TECHNO BUBBLES on Saturday! It was all too much, and I ended up forgetting about updating until now. Oops! Well at least it's up...Same as always, tell me if something is stupid, or you can even tell me if something is good! That way I can fufill my destiny of catering to your every want in a fan fiction.**

**~Rubio  
**

It had been a long day. Baki had just left after telling me the situation at hand. The Sound nin had apparently knocked me out just before Konoha had sent their top shinobi to come and help. They had sent their prized 4 teams, including the "rookie nine" as they were fondly called, along with some reputable Jounin. After pushing the Sound's forces back, they immediately set up boarder patrol along with Suna's own Shinobi. Konoha sent some of their men back, but many of them stayed to help us with boarder patrol and backup for if the sound decided to return soon. All of this took two days. I had been gone for all of these important decisions. I was so angry with myself for letting something of this caliber happen to me, and to the people. And even angrier that I couldn't be there to guide my people back into a state of control and composure. I scoffed at myself; this Kazekage did not deserve all the respect he got. I felt like a failure. What was my problem? I should have listened to Ebizo Sama.

Since I had nothing to do for a while, I decided to get back to work in my office, of course. There's always something to do there, signing papers and reading reports. I really would have rather been training harder and thinking of new plans just in case of another attack, but one I was forbidden to do, and the other had already been taken care of by Baki. His new plan was quite amazing, having coupled with Nara Shikamaru of Konoha. We would be prepared if there happened to be a retaliation attack.

I heaved a big sigh, sitting down at my desk behind a bright day in Suna. I swiveled in my chair to look out of the window, only to see teams running around helping to rebuild the repairs needed from the attack. I wish I could have helped. But I decided to not dwell on what had happened and turned back to my desk resolutely. I looked down at all the papers I had sitting on my desk, and groaned audibly, and lower my head to my desk. It was full of reports, lists, and tons of other documents waiting to be taken care of. This would be a long day. I resolved to finish at least half of the pile before going anywhere for a break.

My eyes were beginning to hurt horribly from looking at small characters on the page, and I just had to get up and go somewhere. I looked out my window and stared at the sand. I pulled some up towards my window, shutting my eyes and working the sand around in the air. I made different shapes and animals. A dragon, a sheep, a tiger, and then suddenly I faintly heard my door open, almost not catching it from the stupid earplugs I had to wear. I could sense who it was right away and continued with my back to them, contorting the shapes of the sand outside my window. For a while, they didn't move, but stood transfixed, staring at my distraction from work. I often did this when I just needed to relax from my duties. I finally let the sand drop to the ground below as I turned around with an expecting glance towards my visitor.

"Yes, Sakura San?"

"Oh! Gome Gaara Sama, I was just…um, well, I need to talk to you about how you are feeling today." I beckoned her to sit with my hand. She hurriedly sat, flustered at being caught staring. "Well, how is everything besides the ears doing?"

"My eyes hurt, but the rest of my body is basically normal now."

"You have been doing lots of desk work I assume?" I nodded at her in response. "Okay, well I guess you should probably take a break then right? I think you remember how the woman you fought threw off your sight with her techniques too, right? Well that's probably why. Here let me help you out with it."

She stood up and motioned for me to step around my desk. I got up slowly, trying to figure out what she was going to do to me.

"Now hold still, got it?" she ordered. She placed her hands against my temples and green chakara sprung up and took a hold of my muscles. I felt it warm my head up as soon as it touched me. I suddenly relaxed and closed my eyes, but I could feel Sakura's body heat, making me feel uncomfortable. My eyes suddenly felt much better and the slight headache I had been putting up with before was gone in an instant. I felt something in the room now. It was an odd feeling, not like anything I had experienced before. I felt tension, but it was something different than the tension of a job or battle. I felt Sakura's hands on my temples still, but there was nothing happening anymore, and I felt her eyes bore into me. I opened my own and saw Sakura standing there, almost in a trance. My body was warming up but it was of its own accord this time, and I had no idea what was going on. I only felt like I was being pulled towards her, though neither of us was moving. She realized that I was now returning her ocean green stare. She gasped and looked at the ground ashamed that I had caught her once again.

"Does it feel any better now?" she murmured.

"Yes, thank you Sakura San," I croaked out pathetically.

"Just… Sakura please. Um, your hearing, we have to check that now." She took out the earplugs I had in and examined the inside of my ear. She let out a breath of air and hummed to herself. "Can you turn your head into the light Gaara Sama?" I cocked my head to the right, allowing the light in the room to flood into my ear. "Mmm, now I see, okay." The way she was talking to herself made me curious of what she was finding in there. What's so interesting about an ear?

"You're still recovering. Let's fix the eardrum up a little more. Gome Gaara Sama, this takes time."

"Please forget that I am Kazekage, I am your equal Sakura. Just Gaara." She blushed profusely, and made a look on her face that I could not identify. Was it surprise?

She nodded and raised her hands to cup them over my ears. The sound of the chakara flowing towards my injury horribly loud, I winced as she began. This was not fun at all. She noticed that I was uncomfortable and lessened her chakara flow, decreasing the sound. My ears felt hot, so I knew it was working, but it sure didn't feel like she was healing me at all. When she finally finished, she let out a sigh.

"All done."

"I think I liked it better when I was knocked out and you were healing me." She laughed at that, and I found myself smile when she did. I saw her face change to a surprised look when I smiled at her. I couldn't blame her though, since I never smiled. I was always told I was too serious.

"Well, Gaara, it seems like your eardrums have recovered quite well so far, if you wait a while for the healing technique to settle down you should be able to walk around the village, provided you still wear the earplugs though." I internally grumbled at the last statement. "Is there anything else you need before I go back to helping the others?"

This was my chance. If I wanted to understand this woman, I would have to talk to her. Wouldn't you spend more time with something you really wanted to analyze?

She had already gotten up, thinking that I would say no, when I blurted out, "Actually…" She turned around, surprised that I had even spoken out but stood at attention until I asked what I wanted of her.

"Please sit, Sakura," I gestured warmly to the chair again. "May I ask you a few questions?"

"Anything Gaara Sa-, uh Gaara," I grinned at her inability to remember our talk about honorifics. I sat back in my chair leaning backwards to crack my back before starting.

"How is everyone?"

"Good, the fight had some of us worn out, but it was nothing a good nights sleep couldn't do, especially for Naruto." I laughed at the remark of her friend's ability to recuperate within a day.

"And yourself?"

"I'm quite fine, just a couple of scratches and bruises from the woman who we beat for you. Her name was Toshiko by the way. She was pretty difficult to beat. Naruto couldn't get her by himself, so we helped each other. We work quite well together actually…"

"I don't mean to be rude, but are you and Naruto…" I drifted off because she had a repulsed look on her face.

"Oh God no, we have been teammates for years, we just are so close that we get it a lot. Naruto likes it, but ugh, I just can't stand it. Not that I'm mad at you or anything! I just –

"No, no I didn't assume you were mad at me. I'm sorry I even brought it up. Anyway, you are a medical ninja. I have heard rumors that you could be the next Tsunade." She blushed and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sure they're overeating. I may have Tsunade as a Sensei, but she is a legendary Sannin! I am almost positive I could never be as strong as her, although people tell me we have the same attitude about certain things." I examined her expression to find she was enjoying some private joke. It confused me, what was so funny about being similar to your Sensei?

"So you are close to Tsunade?"

"I respect her as my Sensei to no end, and we know each other very well, but she is so lazy when it comes to paperwork!" Now there was something I could laugh at. Maybe it was something all of the Kages could relate to…

"What's funny about that?" she inquired.

"I think if you were in my position you could understand a little better."

"Oh, so you too, eh? I guess I would feel the same way if I was her." There was silence for a while. I never felt this stressed to keep talking; even though I usually felt quite relaxed around her, there was something different about this conversation. I quickly thought of a new subject, but it came out before I could think about how it would affect her.

"Sakura? Do you remember the last time you were here?" Her head suddenly popped up from looking at the floor. She took on a look of depression quite quickly.

"Yes," she whispered. "I do remember." Wonderful. I just made her depressed. But I suddenly had a great idea, although quite bold on my part.

"Let's visit her."


	5. Chapter 5

**Enjoy the new chapter! First off, sorry for the shortness. Also, I really dislike how I represented Kankuro in this. It almost verges on stereotypical Fan Fics, where I am trying to be as true to the characters as possible. But really, we don't know THAT much about him anyways and I'm not about to pull up the episodes he is in to do a character analysis right now. If you're looking to see how old everyone is, just notice the remark Gaara makes in the chapter. I have confidence you all can do simple math! Check my profile for when I will update next. I'm going to continue writing tonight, so I should have the next chapter up by tomorrow morning.**

**~Rubio**

We walked in silence. I noticed Sakura, taking in Suna. The sights and smells were probably pretty foreign to someone who has lived in Konoha all of their life. Personally, I loved the smell of salted tongue and gizzard in the morning, but maybe she had other ideas…

"It's so lively around here, like Konoha, but with a lot more sand!" She chuckled at her remark and I internally smiled. She frowned a little at my lack of response, but covered it up right away with a small smile. We were now reaching the outskirts of town, where Chiyo Baa-sama's grave was. I could see the scaling orange and tan rocks, shooting into the sky —Suna's protection. It seemed to tower over the graves of our lost ones. I though about how fitting that truly was.

I knew exactly where her grave was; visiting it hundreds of times after the first time I had experienced death. It was chilling to know I should not be here right now. I looked over my shoulder at Sakura, following close behind. I found Chiyo's grave and headed straight for it. Sakura picked up her pace, now realizing where she was. How many years had passed since Chiyo's death and she still remembered. It had at least been three years. Sakura now passed me, eager to see the engraved stone that stood proudly.

She stopped in front of it and was silent, staring for a while. I bowed my head and paid my respects to Chiyo, still thinking about how she had given up her life. She was an exemplary ninja, putting the village's needs over her own in the end. I wanted to thank her so much, yet I would never be able to.

"I feel…guilty," I said softly, forgetting the pink haired kunoichi. She jumped when I said something, and turned back to look at me with saddened eyes.

"Why would you say that Gaara- san?" My eyes widened at her good hearing. Now I was embarrassed. I never spoke my emotions aloud around others. I didn't know what to say to her. But then, Sakura turned back to the grave and smiled.

" 'Everything I have ever done has been a mistake…' That's what she said when she was, well, saving you. She wanted, so much, to be able to save you." I was shocked at her words. I never heard about anything that was going on at the time of my death, besides that Chiyo had saved me with her own life, including Naruto's chakara.

"I…don't understand," I whispered.

"She took one look at me, at Naruto too, and she told us she knew the world would be a different place with people like us around. I guess she was right. Look at where our villages are today. The fact that you and I stand here together for her sake is something she could never imagine." Her voice was starting to become higher pitched, on the edge of tears. She sounded almost desperate, aching for Chiyo herself to hear her words.

" 'Next time, save the people who are dear to you, not some old hag!' she said to me. I couldn't even think to say anything at the time, but I _was_ saving someone that was dear to me. I never could have become who I am today without her." She wasn't talking to me directly anymore, I could tell. A single tear ran down the side of her cheek. I followed it down her jawbone and neck. She wiped it haphazardly away and looked away. I didn't know what to do. I was at a loss of how to console her.

"You had a relationship with her that no one else could have had. Her brother Ebizo-Sama would love talking to you. You two were probably the closest to her, the way you freely speak of her," I said. She nodded, confirming it a good idea. We stood there in silence for a while more, when Sakura swiftly sat down. She looked up at me with a goading look. I'm sure I had a questioning look on my face, but I sat down too.

"You say so little, Gaara. I wonder what you are feeling most of the time." What was this girl getting at? The sudden utterance made me quite uncomfortable. She stared at me, anticipating an answer that I would certainly not give.

"Do I worry you? Surly I don't resemble the monster I once was, Sakura."

She shook her head violently, "No, no, no, I was just saying that your emotions are hard to read." I chuckled at that.

"I do believe that I am not an open book like you," I said, desperately trying to get off of the subject as quick as possible.

"Excuse me?" She sounded a little offended. Of course I had to offend her, what other way could I dig myself in a hole faster?

"Forgive me, Sakura San, I rarely talk about this subject, may we switch to something else?" her eyes softened at that and she looked as if she was thinking about my words.

"I'm sorry Gaara. It wasn't my place to say anything anyway." Awkwardness stood still in the air, deterring speech and any action. I got up in frustration at the killed mood and held out a hand for Sakura. She looked up with sparkling green eyes and took it. I helped her off the ground and we started walking, but I didn't know where. I suddenly realized I was headed towards Ebizo's.

"I'm taking you to Chiyo's place. I'm sure you and Ebizo will get along just fine together." She looked over to me in shock.

"Wait, what? You can't just let me barge into the house like that, he isn't expecting me," she announced.

I laughed, "He loves company, you'll be fine," I knocked on the framework and entered. There was Ebizo, sitting at the table, eating a stick of dango and staring off out the window. "I have a visitor for you." He looked up and his eyes suddenly widened.

"Haruno Sakura. Welcome again to Suna," he spoke in astonishment. "Please sit."

Sakura gave me a fleeting look and then made her way to the small round table. The screech of the chair legs against the wood made me wince for a moment, and Sakura noticed.

"I'll be back later to give you another treatment Gaara." She turned back to Ebizo, and soon, their conversation was flowing unlike I even imagined. I smiled and snuck out while they weren't watching.

It was getting dark and I was making my way back to my dwelling. I felt a strange sensation come over me after replaying the day in my head. I found myself replaying everything. The conversation Sakura and I had in my office, Chiyo's grave, our small argument, which I chided myself for now, and the moment where I saw her eyes sparkle up at me when I but offered her my hand to get up. I was having trouble sorting out my feelings, but mostly, I was confused.

I entered my room, and I noticed a note sitting on my bed.

_Heard you went out with Sakura. Find me if you know what's good for you._

_-Kankuro_

Oh, great, this meant I would have to talk Kankuro out of thinking that Sakura and I went on a "date". I turned around to go find him when suddenly he was already there, leaning against my doorframe with a smug look on his face.

"Kankuro, I really might have to wipe that look off your face if you don't soon."

"Ha! Little brother, you wish." He rumpled my hair and we smiled at each other for a second.

"So what's going on with the Haruno girl?"

"Nothing is 'going on', Kankuro. I was just taking her to Chiyo's grave. She wanted to see it," I lied. He eyed me suspiciously, but I knew he wasn't on to me at all.

"I can't understand how you could dismiss a beautiful, powerful, and smart kunoichi who wants to spend time with you as nothing. Do you remember when you said, 'One day, I want someone to need me too'? This could be your chance."

I faltered at the forwardness of his words, astounded at the stark brashness in his attitude. He obviously wanted me to think about this later. I already knew I was going to think about it, but now I felt even worse for not noticing her as something to be desired.

"I have to go on boarder patrol now, but just know that you have tons of fan girls, but I think only one girl can really handle you."

I stared at him, my mouth slightly agape as I watched him leave the room and head down the hall. I decided since I had nothing better to do now but sit and think. I sat down on a chair adjacent to my bed and stared off, getting lost in the exotic patterns of my curtains. Ugh, I couldn't stop thinking about Sakura. We had really only just met. This was insanity. This was idiotic. All I needed right now was distraction from my —

"Gaara?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so here I am, at 10 minutes until the 23rd, but hey! I said _'respectively'_ on my update plans, so it all works out. Just like normal, I thank you all for reading, and feel free to tell me if something sucks. Always open to suggestions. Thank you all for the positive feedback, it really does help my writing, because then I know what you guys LIKE! Lots of stuff going on in this chapter, so enjoy!**

**~Rubio**

I came back from my zoned out demeanor and my eyes focused on pink locks and a nose peaking into my room.

"I don't mean to bother you Gaara, but Temari told me that I could find you here. Did I interrupt anything?" She seemed to squeak out her words, intimidated by the fact that she could be entering the Kazekage's personal room.

"Come in, Sakura," I groaned. I put my head in my hands and wiped away my previous thoughts. She slowly tiptoed into my room, looking around curiously. It wasn't a big deal, my room. Navy blue and maroon adorned the walls, and some basic furniture was scattered. It was all made from my favorite colored wood, mahogany. It seemed like she was trying not to touch anything at all as she timidly walked towards where I was sitting in my chaise lounge. I sighed and looked up at her.

"Are you in the mood for a healing? You're almost done with treatment, Gaara," she said tentatively.

"If you looked so hard for me, I guess I can't deny your service, can I?"

She blushed and looked down at her feet.

"Should I stand, or…"

"Standing is fine, unless you want to sit. If you do, just make some room for me to sit," she remarked professionally.

I folded my legs under me, cross-legged, so that she would have room to do the same facing me. She looked at me hesitantly and sat down. Ours knees were almost touching, and I was beginning to think I should have just stood up.

"Okay, I'm going to start." I nodded. She put her hands over my ears and I could feel the powerful chakara rush into my ears. She closed her eyes, concentrated on the task at hand. It felt extremely uncomfortable, but not the searing pain I had felt early. I decided that I would try to relax. I let out a breath and closed my eyes as well, but not before seeing Sakura falter at my movement.

"It would be better if you didn't move Gaara," she murmured.

"Sorry," I reddened at my lack of thought. She smiled a little at that.

"What were you doing before I came in, if you don't mind me asking?" she asked with her body still concentrated on the job in front of her.

"Thinking, that's all."

"About what," she prodded. I saw her little game, but I played along with it anyway, amused with her curiosity.

"The village," I lied.

"You feel guilty again, don't you?"

"What?" I was caught off guard. "Oh, no, well, yes actually. I guess I just feel like I let my village down. More of a failure kind of accusation towards myself, you could say. Being careless is not something I usually do, especially when my village is at stake."

"Oh Gaara, if only you could hear your Nin talk about you like they do on boarder patrol. They hail you like a god! They know quite well that everything you do is for them. They all love you so much; they are devoted to you in every way. Don't put yourself down when the entire village is raising you up. They know you tried hard to beat that sound nin, and they understand that one small slip up is no entitlement to a life long sentence of 'carelessness'."

I was silent. If that were all true, there would be nothing for me to make amends about. It almost made no sense to me…

"If you ask me, Gaara, I think you're your own worst critic," she threw in nonchalantly.

I opened my eyes to look at her. She was amazingly still healing, and yet talking like she always held carefree conversation while working on the human body. I looked closely at her. She was smiling, eyes still closed, and brow creased. She was beautiful, just like Kankuro had told me. I began to memorize her face when she began talking, and I found it hard to respond when I was looking at her so closely without her knowing I was.

"Whatcha thinking about now?"

I wanted to say _you _but that would be embarrassing and highly blunt. I decided to stay on the safe subject of the village.

"Well, I'm quite happy that the village has forgiven me before I have even forgiven myself. They are all that matters to me."

"So the entire village acts as your precious person?"

"I'm sorry?"

She approached the subject cautiously, "The people you fight for every day? The ones that mean the most to you."

"Oh," I responded. "Yes, I guess the whole village is like that to me. No one takes precedent over another. That's what being the Kazekage is all about, right?" I asked.

She laughed at the last statement. "I don't think I could speak from experience, Kazekage. But I can see what you're saying. That is very noble of you."

"It isn't noble. It's just common sense," I stated matter-of-factly. But I wasn't met with more words this time. What I didn't realize before was that her healing had stopped. I opened my eyes and was staring straight at her. I had no idea what came over me, but as soon as she whispered, "Oh..." I felt my hands come up to grasp the ones cupping my ears.

"Thank you, for this," I murmured. She blushed crimson and looked away, pulling her soft hands with her.

"It's just my job, nothing special. Keep those earplugs in until I tell you, okay?"

And with that, she got up and left as suddenly as she had stirred me from my thoughts. All I could do was stare until she had closed my door behind her. The sound snapped me out of the trance I was in. What was _that_?

"What just happened?" I breathed.

The next morning, I found myself ready to continue training. I was antsy and felt like I had been cooped up for days. I technically wasn't, I just couldn't do anything with this injury it seemed. I started off to the training grounds after eating a little breakfast and getting dressed. I had dreamt about Sakura that night, and it was embarrassing to just think about it. I had never dreamt about a specific woman before. This dream was different than most though. It felt real, like she was really there talking to me, even though I couldn't remember our conversation. And then I took her to my favorite spot in the village and woke up just before we shared a kiss. I shook the images out of my head. They were highly unlikely to happen, and on top of it all, I would never share my spot with anyone. The whole dream was absurd, and made me angry that something like that would never happen. I wouldn't waste time thinking about something like this when there were other, more productive things, to think about.

"Oof! Hey, watch- Oh, hey Gaara! What's got you so distracted that you don't even watch where you're going?" I had bumped into Naruto in my distracted frame of mind.

"Hello, Naruto. I'm just feeling weird today, that's all."

He looked at me suspiciously, and I abruptly got an idea.

"Do you want to come and spar with me, Naruto?"

"Oh, would I! Ugh, but I have boarder patrol with your siblings in a while. I was headed there right now. Way to catch me during the time I don't have off Gaara!"

"That's unfortunate… maybe next time then, friend?"

"Your on. We all know who'd win anyways…"

"Me," We said simultaneously. We both laughed at that and Naruto gave me a punch on the arm.

"Ha, you wish Gaara. Well, I gotta get going, but save your best fight for me!"

He shouted over his shoulder as he ran towards the opening to our village. I smiled at him as he raced away. He was so entertaining sometimes. How could he have such a bright spirit all the time? It seemed almost impossible, but he did it. And along with that, he brought others up with him. No wonder he was the one who helped me out of my old ways.

I made it to the open training ground where I usually worked on my long distance attacks. I started off slowly, with some sand projectiles. I moved my arms gracefully, making each shot of sand smooth and clean. Since Shukaku had been extracted, I had to work on controlling my chakara more and more. I didn't have a plethora of it anymore, and couldn't afford to waste it like I used to.

I started to work on my sand shields. I tried pulling it up as fast as I possibly could. I pulled up a sand shield and began to work with it, determining the best way to form and shape it to be stronger than ever.

_BAM_

I, without warning, was now looking at a gloved fist that was plunged through my sand. I stared incredulously at it, not knowing how anything could possibly break through it.

"Focus your chakara more center," a familiar voice chirped. The hand unclenched and with brute force tore a hole in my shield. Sakura's head poked through the hole.

"Hey! You mind having a partner to spar with? Gaara, are you okay?"

I couldn't stop staring at the hole she had made in my defense. Was it even possible? I couldn't find words to put with the unrealistic action.

"Wow…" I uttered.

She blurted out a laugh, "How bout' it? Are you up to fighting me, Sabuku No Gaara?"

"I guess I have nothing else to do," I determined.

She was intimidating that is for sure. I had no idea what her physical prowess was. I knew she was an extremely talented medical ninja but this was completely different!

We stepped apart, me letting me sand fall to the ground again. I fell into stance, as did she. She suddenly looked so serious. I was beginning to wonder whether she was taking this seriously or if this was just a little fun she was trying to have. She punched the ground all at once, forcing me off the ground in an immediate retaliation from the explosive effect. Okay, so she was being serious…

"Naruto told me you were going to be here today, and I thought I might get some training in too!" she shouted as she jumped into the air and spun into me; ready to kick me straight in the stomach. I couldn't have any of that, considering that any blow from her would probably knock me out, or even kill me. I bent backwards midair and landed on the ground behind the disarray of land and rock.

"I guess I'm glad you joined me?" I said apprehensively.

I shot out my sand with a flick of my arm. It swirled around her and she dodged every whiz of sand to come even close to her body. This was upsetting. She at the beginning of the fight was outdoing me? I had to step it up a little. I forced her backwards and sent up sand underneath where she would have to land. Abruptly, Sakura threw her body into a spin, and was only nicked by my sand.

She cried out as she hit the ground rolling. She got up quickly and by the look in her eyes, this fight was no longer fun. It was to see who was better.

"Nice one," she said sarcastically. I only smiled, and I think that made her even angrier.

She came running at me with a chakara infused punch ready to go, and I sent up a wave of sand in her path, she flew into the air, and disappeared with a puff of smoke. A clone? Where was the real one -?

I looked behind me only to see a fist, only several feet from me. I sent up my wall of sand as quick as I could but it only softened the blow of her fist connecting with my chest. I flew backwards and she was already there to catch me and throw me against a tree. I skidded my feet on the ground, slowing my impact to a tolerable blow. I dodged her follow up and wrapped her in sand raising her off of the ground. She had a scared look on her face, familiar with what usually followed this technique's beginning.

Instead of completing the technique, I released her and she fell to the ground. She angrily looked up and stared at me for a moment. I stood there blank faced.

"Do you think you're invincible, Gaara? What do you think your weakness is? Can you even utter it from your mouth?"

She obviously had some type of inner argument going on, but I couldn't tell what it was even about. So I gave her the information she wanted.

"You," I said firmly, and then left the training area. Sakura sat there with a bewildered look on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the delay in updating guys. I got SUPER sick and, to leave out the nasty details, basically couldn't move. ANYWAYS! I looked over my last chapter and it had tons of mistakes and stupid stuff going on in it, so I tried to make this the best chapter yet. Hopefully it'll live up to your expectations. Just tell me how you like it. Enjoy! I'm off to make a wallpaper collage of Gaara! WOOT!  
**

**~Rubio**

My heart was racing as I left the training ground. Had I really just said that to her? I could already tell that I would regret saying that. This was so unlike me. I had left the training area in a swift fashion, quickly jumping over the rooftops back to my office. I was worried that she might have come to her senses and followed me after my little slip. I wanted nothing more in the world than to never have to face her again. What would she ask me? I had a feeling I wouldn't like whatever questions she asked, considering I already had a hard time answer questions about myself that others thought were not personal in the slightest. What was to become of our relationship now? How do girls even react to this kind of thing?

In the dark about the subject at hand, I decided to do some meditating on the problem. I sat facing the window in my office, playing with the sand aimlessly and thinking. I had so many questions. I wanted to know about her— her favorites, her dislikes, and her feelings. I found that the most important thing. If I had no idea what she thought of me, then how could I even begin to talk to her? I wouldn't know how to phrase things, or how to act even. Suddenly, my entire behavior was based around her, this Konoha Shinobi who waltzed right into my life without warning.

It was become evening. The orange sun was compatible with the pink sky and the tan desert was lit brightly in vivid colors, like someone had taken a match to the area. I waited for the green burst that happened when the sun would finally touch the ground. It was something so amazing, yet so brief that one blink could ruin it all, disappearing as fast as it came about. When it happened, a ludicrous idea popped into my head. Sakura's eyes were the same color as the green flash right before the sunset left and night took over. Sakura seemed to be the bridge for me, and I seemed to be in the night. She gave me happiness in my empty life. She was such an individual.

In that thought I had to get up and walk around. Something was stirring within me and I had no idea what it could be. I walked out into the hallway and made my way to nowhere in particular. I rounded a corner and saw Sakura. I immediately spun around behind the corner again, masking my chakara. I heard her talking. And then, I heard my sister, Temari's voice. Were they talking to each other? I used my Third Eye ninjutsu to look around the corner for me. It seemed as though they were having a private conversation in a very non-private area. Their voices were hushed and it seemed like Sakura was speaking with passion. I sucked up close against the wall and listened as closely as I could.

"I just can't understand him, you know what I mean? One second he talks to me freely and the next he is as guarded as can be. And now he throws this at me? It's all too much. There are too many mixed messages. I'm attracted to your brother, but he just doesn't seem to show it a lot. Well, until now."

"Gaara is someone that takes time to decipher, Sakura. You can't just expect to _get_ Gaara after a week. It takes some time to understand and get inside of his head. You have to know his deepest feelings to fully know him. Hell, I can't even say I fully know him, and I am his sister. But what I do know is that I really do care about him, and that makes me see him in a way that not even he could understand, at least yet."

"Can I be sure that he has some type of interest me, or is it just one of his mood swings?"

Temari chuckled. "You may call them mood swings, but I know exactly what you are talking about. Those aren't mood swings at all. Gaara is just trying to be open with you, but he can't always do it. To him, its weak, and with pressures of the village he sees vulnerability as something that can't be accounted for in running this place."

"So he thinks that I'm weak, then?"

Her body language showed that she was annoyed at my apparent hesitation in her outward displays of emotion, but Temari seemed to be eating all of this up. She was entertained at the fact that someone was interested in her little brother. I was more than entertained, though. I was downright fascinated about her professed interest. How could someone like this hold affection for someone like me?

"Obviously not anymore, after you gave him that whooping today!"

Wait a second; I thought I was the winner of that fight. What would Temari know about that anyway? The girls giggled at the statement, but I was sulking behind the corner.

"Hello Kazekage Sama!"

I jumped out of my skin, dispelling my Third Eye. I straightened up and smoothed my clothing. The girls were suddenly quiet and waited for my response.

"Good evening Isao," I sighed.

He had come up from behind and was continuing to walk, only now pulling me around the corner to talk with him. The girls were staring wide eyed at me as I passed them. I gave Sakura a longing glance and then turned my attention back to Isao, only I couldn't even concentrate on what he was saying. It was something about the baby he and his wife had expected coming early. I muttered some congratulations on his new boy, and said I would look forward to him becoming a wonderful ninja like his father.

"Sakura, he's got it bad. I have never seen him like this before," Temari whispered, thinking I wouldn't hear.

It wasn't my fault I was taken completely off guard. I could have been more composed if it hadn't been for Isao. Frustrated, I excused myself from him, saying that I needed to continue paperwork, and that I was very behind. He happily complied and waved as he ran ahead. The girls hadn't moved from their spots.

I had taken the long way back to the office, not wanting to confront either of the girls. I was pacing in front of my desk, getting antsy from the knowledge I had just gained. What was I supposed to do now? I knew she was interested, but she had her doubts about me. Would I have to profess all of my feelings? Could I censor some? Did most people do this kind of thing when pursuing a woman?

"Ugh, I am utterly hopeless…" I said aloud.

"Yeah, you are."

I spun on my heel in the direction of the voice. I knew right away it was Temari.

"Would you mind knocking on other people's doors?"

"Since when have you been concerned about knocking when it's me or Kankuro?"

"Since now!" I waved my hands in aggravation. She directed a cocky smile at me and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Since you started talking to yourself about women?"

I went straight for my chair and turned it towards the window, sulking, and not wanting to face the conversation that was about to ensue.

"Oh Gaara, I know you heard everything in the hallway. Don't play dumb, I can sense you from a mile away."

I continued to say nothing, ignoring the apparent death glare I was getting through the back of my chair.

"Well, I was going to decipher for you, but I guess you're more interested in being a whiny child."

She turned to leave and I felt my only chance at understanding Sakura withdrawing.

"Wait."

Temari and I both turned at the same time to face each other. We stared for a few tense seconds until she broke the silence.

"So you really do like this girl?"

"Oye, she's quite the catch isn't she, Temari?"

I looked over at the door to see Kankuro standing there with a scroll in hand.

"Would you mind knocking on other people's doors?" Temari mocked in her 'Gaara voice', which I personally thought sounded nothing like me, and laughed.

"Like Gaara cares, Sis?"

"Well, apparently now he does…Anyway, I was just talking to Gaara about Sakura, obviously."

"Before you talk about that, Gaara, I have that scroll that you had asked me to collect signatures for."

He threw the scroll in my direction, and I caught it one handed without lifting my gaze from him. I opened it and it had all of the signatures I needed for an important document I was working with this morning. This was prompt. I could always count on Kankuro to get stuff done quickly. I nodded a thanks towards him. Temari spoke up.

"Haven't you already talked to Gaara about this, Kankuro?"

"I did, and obviously it worked if he just told her what I heard he told her."

This was ignorant. They were talking about my personal relationships right in front of me, and I was saying nothing. I had to say something.

"Guys, I don't know what you are thinking about doing, but I can handle this myself, okay? I have the situation in control."

Both stared at me for a second and then burst out laughing! They didn't even take me seriously. Anger bubbled up in my stomach and really wanted to knock some sense into them. It must have shown on my face because they stopped.

"Hey Gaara, lighten up a little. We're just saying that it sure doesn't look like you know what you're going to do," Kankuro stated.

"Gaara, I hope you know we are trying to help because we want what you want. I'm willing to help you out here. Don't be like that."

The whole situation was just frustrating and realized that I was trapped in my office until they were well satisfied with the conversation. Slight panic washed over me, desperation that nothing could satiate. I didn't want to face my feelings. Maybe because I knew they were nonsensical, or maybe because I knew I wanted it but I couldn't have it. There was no way that Sakura and I could ever be together. We were from different places, had different lives.

"Hellooo? Gaara?" Temari waved a hand in my face. I snapped out of my small reverie and looked up at my siblings.

"How can I make her see Temari? This seems altogether impossible."

"Stop acting so dejected, you'll be fine. Kankuro and I are going to help you out. Contrary to popular belief, women are easy to read," Temari stated, almost scientifically.

Kanuro and I let out a muffled laugh covered in a cough. Temari gave us a look and continued, "Sakura is interested in you Gaara. You're being a _baka_ by letting her think you dislike her for one second and like her the next. Knowing you, you think you're in one of your normal moods, but Sakura isn't really positive what your 'normal moods' are. The only ones who really know the differences are Kankuro and I. All I would suggest is to lighten up a little. Just let your guard down for once in your life. Today was a pretty good start."

"Very smooth I would say," Kankuro praised.

"Shut up Kankuro," Temari sighed.

"I was just saying! Don't girls like those kinds of surprises? Kindness where it's unexpected? I say keep doing things like that, Gaara, and she'll be putty in your hands!"

"Would you stop it? Really," she groaned exasperated. "Sakura and I are a rare breed. We don't become _putty_," she spit out. " It'll be difficult, but be chivalrous. She likes that kind of thing. Get personal with her, that's one way to show that you care. Just talk to her like you talk to us."

"Easier said than done," I muttered.

Sitting back in my chair, Temari rolled her eyes. But then, her eyes became wider and she took on a devilish look. Kankuro had a similar look on his face as well. And then I realized what they were reacting to. Sakura was standing under my doorframe timidly.

"Uhhh, gotta go Gaara, catch up with you later," Kankuro speedily said. He headed towards the opposite end of the office. "Hey Sakura chan! What's up? I haven't seen you since the last watch we had together."

"Hi Kankuro, not much really. Just did some sparring with Gaara today, actually."

"You wouldn't say," he innocently commented. "And you won right? Please tell me you did."

She blushed suddenly and looked at the floor.

"Not really, but you could say it was a draw."

"Maybe next time, eh? Well I gotta get going, and Temari too. We have some important stuff to do."

Temari looked confused, "Huh? Oh yeah, sorry Sakura chan, we'll catch up later, okay?

"Sounds good?" You could tell she was confused by the sudden departure of her two friends. They left quickly, Temari on Kankuro's heels, closing the door after her. Sakura giggled nervously.

"They were in a hurry. What was that all about?"

I quickly changed the subject, embarrassed that we had just been talking about her. "I would hardly say it was a draw, Sakura. I clearly had won."

"I wouldn't say you won," she teased. "I would say you cheated at the end."

"I'd hardly call that cheating," I teased right back with a smile on my face. I felt a sudden confidence in knowing that she cared about me too. "What's going on? Another check up?"

"Yep, it'll be the last one too. You can finally take out your earplugs," she declared.

"Finally," I grumbled. I really hated those things. She laughed at that. "Pull up a chair, Sakura."

She took one of the chairs in front of my desk and I turned to the side of my desk so she could sit across from me. She immediately began her work, a slight ringing sounded in my ears and I squinted at the pressure. She relaxed herself so I decided to also.

"I'm due to leave the day after tomorrow."

My eyes shot open and I became panicked, "What?"

"My mission is over. It's been almost a week now, and the Sound haven't come back. Tsunade thought it best to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, you know? We've been so busy helping rebuild your village and watch for attempted invasions that I barely even recognized the time gone by."

"It's the same for me. But that often happens, with the amount of things shoved at me everyday."

"I will miss it here," she whispered. She continued to heal me but was looking straight at me. I instantly knew the second meaning to the words. What she meant was, '_I will miss you.'_ I was saddened by the look she gave me. It was desperate. Her sea green eyes peered deep within me, asking me to do something, to let her stay longer. But there was nothing that I could do. Konoha Shinobi were to go back within the next two days, and I couldn't stop them, Hokage's orders.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for being patient about Fanfiction. There was some kind of "Fan Fiction Error" the prevented me from uploading and checking traffic for a while. The problem was fixed a couple of days ago, but I had homework so I didn't really want to start the next chapter. But here it is. I'm finally getting to the point where I can make up things about characters because they don't go as in depth in the manga or anime! It's exciting to see what you all will think about my view on each character (Sakura and Gaara). _As always, check my profile for when I update next!_**

**~Rubio  
**

In a state of depression, I dragged my unresponsive body to Kankuro's room. I had been thinking about Sakura's words. I peaked into Temari's room on the way, but she was sleeping. I kept going down the long hall until I reached Kankuro's door, and I slowly knocked. The door opened slightly.

"What are you doing, Gaara? It's two in the morning, shouldn't you be sleeping nowadays?" He joked.

"Sakura's leaving."

"What?! Come in," he beckoned me inside of his room.

I was somewhat calmed by his taupe and violet covered walls. The only light on in the room was the reading lamp next to his bed. Scrolls covered his bed in a messy array.

"Did I wake you?"

Kankuro gave a short smile, "Nah, I was just getting ahead in some reading for the mission you're sending me on in a couple of days. Now tell me about Sakura. What's going on? What'd you say?"

"It's not something I said, we were quite fine until she laid this fact on me. I forgot about Konoha leaving. Obviously you did too. What do I do? I want Sakura to stay, but I can't just send a note to Tsunade saying, "Oh, by the way, I'm keeping your most esteemed medic Nin here for my liking," can I," I said sarcastically.

"Well, you are right about me forgetting that Konoha is leaving soon, but all I can tell you is good luck. I have no idea how you could get Sakura to stay."

I looked at him pleadingly, "You have to help me. Isn't there anything we could do?"

"Don't look at me, brother, I'm not the one who's Kazekage. You have the power to do what you want."

I made a frustrated sigh and headed for the door. I had opened the door and was making my way out when Kankuro turned me around to face him. He looked me straight in the eye, and I stared right back at him with an annoyed pout.

"Just don't do anything…_stupid._ Girls tend to have that affect on us men," he whispered in the hall. I snorted at the comment and left for my quarters.

Slightly annoyed that my own brother couldn't help me out, I sat down at my desk and stared at the wall with a grimace. According to him, seeing Sakura again would be near impossible for quite a while. I rolled my eyes and looked at my desk. There was tons of paper work to be done, like always, and I really couldn't sleep even if I had tried. Deciding to distract myself from more thinking, I picked up some papers a started up. It was several minutes before a miracle was given to me.

My eyes beheld a gift from the heavens, so specific to my problem I laughed aloud. It was a request, and not just any request. It read:

_Request: More Medic Nins on site at Sunagakure no Sato Hospital._

_Details: Because of the amount of Medic loss after the attack from the Sound, progress at the hospital is slower and less efficient. We ask that you would assign more Medics to the hospital until we have everything under control again. Signed, Gifu Hammurabi, Head Medic._

I stared at the paper for a long time. It was around three before I actually knew what I was going to do with the paper. I would have to wait until morning to do it, but the idea was already working in my fuzzy head. I needed sleep for the whole thing to really make sense.

The next morning, I woke up to a knock.

"Hey Sleepyhead, you just missed your daily meeting with your advisors," Temari said through my door. I groaned and tried to process her words. Wait, _what_?! I shot up out of bed and tripped as I got to the door. Opening it into Temari's face.

"Ouch! You baka!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I exclaimed. "What time is it?"

She rubbed her nose and glared before telling me, "Somewhere around nine?"

Wonderful, I was late to another meeting on top of missing the first. I called out a quick thanks to Temari as I ran back into my room slamming the door behind me. I heard her scoff at my hasty and clumsy state. Throwing on my robes and rushing to the meeting room, I sat fidgeting the entire time, not able to focus on the subject at hand. I needed to write that letter to Tsunade quickly.

As soon as I dismissed the meeting, I made my way towards my office. I finally got there after countless people bumping into me and asking how my day had been so far. Usually more than happy to answer the questions and have small talk with my people, whoever happened to try to talk to me was surprised by my frazzled state.

I sat down in my work chair and immediately made out a notice for Tsunade, asking her for an extension on her Medic Nin's missions. I promised her a suitable payment for the extension and told her that each would receive satisfactory living arrangements for their time here, explaining the reason why we were in desperate need for them at the moment. Because of the many Medic deaths, there weren't many I could pull out of missions. Hopefully she would understand, being one of the first shinobi to insist upon having a medic on each team. I personally sent the letter out on our fastest hawk and anxiously waited for the returning statement.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was thankfully uneventful. The only thing I had to do was assign missions, one of my favorite jobs. I loved seeing Suna's youth and Suna's best, all classified as one team. I always felt proud when looking upon our village's shinobi.

After sitting in my office with nothing to do for a while, I needed to get up and walk around. I left the Kazekage tower and meandered through the streets, talking to anyone who wanted to talk to me. Walking on, I saw a small boy sitting against a building, looking on at the other children playing a game of tag. I sat down next to him and he looked up at me with big brown eyes.

"What are you doing over here, friend?" I asked softly.

He was awed at the fact that I was talking to him and couldn't speak. He looked down and a blush grew on his face. I tried a different approach.

"What's your name?"

"K-Kazuki, Kazekage Sama," he stammered.

"Why aren't you playing with everybody?"

His head dropped and he muttered, "Because they don't like me."

My heart went out to him. He was like I was. It was like I was looking at myself as a child. I couldn't stand to see another go through what I did.

"Well then we'll just have to fix that, won't we? You can be strong for me?"

I took his hand and he looked up at me with a nod. I nodded back and smiled. He slowly got up and I took him over to the group that was playing tag. As soon as the children saw us they stopped their game and stared.

One of the kids murmured, "Is Kazuki with the Kazekage?"

At the children's reaction to what was in front of them, Kazuki became more confident and smiled at me, and I smiled back.

"Hi everyone, I'm Gaara and this is my friend Kazuki. Kazuki would like to play with you, is that okay?"

The kids nodded incredulously. The leader suddenly burst out with, "Hey! Kazuki, your it!"

The others broke out into the game as if it had never been interrupted and Kazuki started chasing after them, laughing and already having a good time. He looked back at me and gave me a smile and wave goodbye before continuing with the game.

"I saw that," a familiar voice rang out.

I spun around to find Sakura leaning against a building with her arms folded, smirking. I laughed and walked over to her, excited to see her.

"Do you follow me around or what? You always seem to be where I am," I joked.

"You wish," she laughed.

I didn't laugh…because it was true. She must have picked that up because she stopped laughing and looked at me funny. I was suddenly nervous, not sure if this was the last time I would see her before she left. I hadn't heard back from Tsunade all day, and I was getting worried about why she was taking so long. I decided to possibly jump on the situation while I still had it. Just go for it, like Kakuro had advised me.

"Sakura, would you mind if I took you on a date?" I swallowed hard.

She was silent for a second. All at once she was smiling and eagerly said, "I'd love that, Gaara."

I was flabbergasted! This was amazing! She had said yes, and now all I needed to do was set it up. It had to be tonight, and since it was mid afternoon already I was running out of time.

"Great! Well, can you meet me at my office at seven?"

"I guess so, I just finished my boarder patrol shift, so I'm free until my shift at one in the morning. Yuck. See you at seven, then?" She gleamed.

"See you then," I said, getting lost in her perfect smile.

I rushed back to my office, eager to see if Tsunade had gotten back to me yet. Sure enough, on my desk was a sealed red scroll with the Fire Country and Leaf Village symbol on the end. This was it. My palms were sweating and I was dreading what was inside. Opening it up I slowly read the following:

_Sabaku no Gaara,_

_Unfortunately I cannot let you keep all of the Medics I sent out, but you may keep the following in your village as needed:_

_Yamanaka Ino_

_Hidoku Aiko_

_Saito Megumi_

_Akita Kouta_

_Haruno Sakura_

_As you can see, I am intrusting my most brilliant student, Haruno Sakura to you. Use her wisely; maybe even assign her to students, to make up for your losses. _

_Best wishes on the reconstruction of your village,_

_Tsunade_

I heaved a sigh of relief as I stared at the last name on the list. How amazingly lucky I was. Now I had more time to get to know Sakura. Which reminded me, I needed to set up our date! I quickly organized my desk and started to brainstorm. I could take her out to eat, or we could do something. What could we possibly do though? I didn't even know what she liked to do for fun. I figured, to be safe, we should just get a bite to eat and talk. Hopefully that's what most people did on dates. But what if she didn't like where I took her to eat? She _is_ from Konoha, and they don't really have the same food…maybe I could introduce her to my favorites around here?

I settled on taking her to my favorite stand and then going on a walk. It seemed like a good enough date to me, but what would Sakura think? I thought that I should get a woman's opinion, so I headed to Temari's for a quick thumbs up on the idea.

As I was headed down the hall, I suddenly was hit with a skidding figure rounding a corner.

"Oof! Oh, damnit, I'm sorry…Oh! Gaara Kun, it's you!" A bewildered Matsuri exclaimed from the floor.

I held out a hand to help her off the ground, and as I did, Her eyes were sparkling with admiration. This was all I needed right now.

"Sorry, Matsuri."

"No problem Gaara Kun! That was my entire fault! How are you?"

"Uh, good. I'm actually on my way to find Temari, do you know where she is?"

"She just took my place on duty, you're not going to fine her anytime soon," she said matter-of-factly.

"Well then maybe you could help answer my question?"

Her face squeezed up and she squealed, "Anything for you, Gaara!"

"If I were to take you on a date," her face brightened and it looked like she was going to faint, "Would you be fine with eating somewhere and taking a walk?"

"Are you asking me on a date, Gaara Kun?"

I jumped at her question. Where did she get that? And anyway, she was my student; never mind that we were similar in age.

"What? No, sorry, Matsuri, I just need a girls point of view on this."

"Oh," she said dejectedly, "well I guess if I was the lucky girl, I would love it. It sounds romantic!"

"Good. Okay, well I must go now, but thank you," I said over my shoulder as I was quickly walking in the opposite direction.

"You're welcome?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter! Hope you all love it. I'm so excited about the reviews, and I love hearing what you have to say. Anyways, check the end of the chapter's AN for a special surprise for all of you! Sorry though, it's not a cookie.**

**~Rubio  
**

I headed towards my room down the hall, going way too fast. Slowing down my thought process would be a good idea if I wanted to see Sakura in one whole mental piece. I opened my thick wooden doors and slammed them shut as soon as I stepped foot inside. My back against the door, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. _Everything will be fine_.

After slowing my heart rate, I pulled off my stuffy robes and laid them on my navy blue comforter, made by one of the elders herself. I shuffled out of my sandals and picked up a clean pair of clothes. I could hear my feet padding along the stone floor and shivered at the sudden decrease in temperature when I stepped onto the marble floor of the bathroom. The temperature changed drastically, however, as I turned on the steaming shower. I relaxed my stiff muscles under the spray.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Matsuri as I scrubbed my hair. It seemed like I had hurt her feelings just by asking her a question on opinion. Was it possible that women could get upset over something like that? I know Temari got mad at Shikamaru every once in a while, but the causes were never clear to me. In any case, I wasn't trying to upset her, so I decided to apologize the next time I saw her. I continued scrubbing with a sigh.

Finishing up in the shower, I began to feel excitement bubbling up in my stomach. Or maybe it was nervousness? I really couldn't tell until I wiped the condensation off of the mirror adjacent to the shower. For quite a while, I gazed at the person staring back at me. It seemed as though I had taken on a different persona, one that had a small smile on, and a color to his cheek. It seemed entirely alien to be so cheery. Sakura had already changed me for the better it seemed.

I got dressed in my black shirt and pants, shrugging on my cloak on the way out of my room. It was only six, meaning that the wait would be even more agonizing, where I was originally hoping that I wouldn't have to wait much at all. I entered my quiet office, with it's papers and scrolls all cleared off and completed. I relaxed when I remembered that I had finished all of my paper work today, quite the accomplishment in my opinion. But I saw a flaw in that finalization. I had nothing to do for an hour now. I groaned at flopped into my chair, looking out at the city, faintly illuminated in the dusk approaching. Houses were beginning to light up and stands and restaurants were gaining momentum. I watched my people continue on with their days, laughing, talking, and totally unaware that their Kazekage was about to explode with anxiousness.

I swiveled in the other direction, facing my door. Bringing all of the sand from the floor up into my hand, my form of cleaning and training, I used my chakara to make a vacuum tight ball of sand. The training requires great concentration, where you make the ball as tight as possible. I played with the technique a little, making different shapes that required even more concentration, such as a star.

A knock came at the door, making me jump and my ball blow up in my face. Ugh! Wonderful. I shook my hair out and stood up to brush myself off.

"Come in, come in!" I groaned, frustrated.

Sakura peaked her head in the room and laughed, "What happened to you?"

I rolled my eyes, "Never mind that, I was just…experimenting with sand. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she smiled. I took the time to appraise her demeanor. She was so beautiful and looked so frail, condescending to how powerful she in truth was. She had become even more of a woman since the last time we had seen each other around the time of Chiyo's death. Her cheery smile was contagious lately, always tugging the ends of my lips upward. She seemed much more calm compared to me, and I was jealous that she could act like that when I was already making a fool of myself.

I led the way out, her eyes following my every movement. I could feel her eyes on my form, and I was happy that she found me physically appealing, because I sure found her that way. I continued out into the streets of Suna, Sakura on my right. She looked up at me with a questioning look.

"Hey, you never told me where we're going."

I smiled down at her, but said nothing.

She let out an exasperated sigh, "It's really annoying how you never tell me things."

I just let out a small laugh. I wanted to surprise her. Kankuro had mentioned that when we were talking in my office with Temari. I had to be chivalrous as well, according to her. There were so many things I had to think about that I didn't realize we were so close to our destination. I shoved the thoughts away and told Sakura we were almost there. When we arrived at my favorite food stand, I smiled and Sakura looked confused.

"We're getting a bite to eat first," I directed towards her. "Konbanwa, Ji," I greeted the storeowner.

Ji was my favorite person to talk to when I felt unsuccessful as a Kazekage. She was one of the oldest citizens of Suna, wise and still as quick as a whip. Sometimes she could be so prone to gossip that she would talk your ear off. I suddenly realized the consequences of taking Sakura here. Everyone in Suna would know about it by morning.

"Gaara! And who is your lovely friend?"

"Sakura," she introduced herself with a bow.

"A pleasure, Sakura. From the Leaf Village are we? Good, Good. You're very pretty," Ji muttered.

I slapped a hand to my forehead and Sakura looked down and blushed.

"Arigato, Ji Sama."

"I'll have the usual, Ji, and Sakura will have the same," I desperately hoped that would hurry the old woman away to prepare the food.

"Coming right up, Gaara Kun," She chortled.

I looked at Sakura who was smiling and motioned for her to sit in a chair. The stand was very casual; I wasn't one for the ambiance while I ate. A simple curtain hung from the front of the stand, enough to cover its customers from general view, which was all I asked for when eating.

"She's funny," Sakura remarked about Ji.

"She is one of my favorite people in this village. Always has something to say, and most of the time she's quite entertaining for an 80 year old. After you've come here enough, you get used to her ramblings," I chuckled.

"I wish I could experience it," she said in undertone.

When I realized Sakura had a sad look on her face, it hit me. She didn't know about the medic nin extension yet. I decided then and there that I would surprise her at the end of the date. It would be perfect for where I was taking her after the walk.

"You will," I said cryptically with a grin. Sakura seemed utterly confused.

"Here's your food, kids!"

Sakura looked down at her bowl and had a disgusted look on her face.

"Uh, what is this, Gaara kun?

"Gizzard and salted tongue, of course," I remarked, picking up the tongue with my sticks, "Itadakimasu."

She scrunched her nose as I took a bite.

"Just try it. I'm sure you'll love it," I challenged. She squinted her eyes at me and looked down at her bowl and then at me again.

"Okay, I trust you I guess," she sighed. She raised the tongue to her mouth and sniffed. Watching her was too much fun. She cocked her head to the side, analyzing her first bite before she even took it. I grinned at her and motioned for her to eat, then took a bite of gizzard. It seemed like she had come to terms with something, and she stuck the tongue in her mouth and chewed. Her eyes widened and she chewed less hesitantly. She liked it.

"Wow! I can't believe this is good," she whispered. I chuckled and we continued eating in silence.

"Do you want to play a game?" She asked while biting out of her gizzard.

What was she talking about? A game? At a time like this? I was confused to say the least.

"What kind of game, Sakura Chan?"

She blushed at her name and looked down at the sandy wood floor. She was so endearing. I decided that watching her was fun.

"Well, we ask each other questions. Just random questions like 'what's your favorite color or food'."

I furrowed my brow. What kind of game was that? It didn't seem fun to me…

"What's the point?" I asked confused

"You get to know the other person, silly. I'll start and this one will be easy. What's your favorite color?"

"Maroon… Am I doing this right?"

She laughed out, "Yes, perfect, now you ask me something," she giggled.

I had no idea, so I just asked her the same question.

"Um, red?"

Now that surprised me. Red? She wore pink. She had pink hair. She had amazing green eyes, why not those colors?

"Really?"

"Yeah. I bet you were thinking I would say pink, right? I see pink every day. It's a cool color and all, but red is about passion. It's fire, it's what defines the drive that I have to continue to train harder, you know?"

I never would think that hard into it, but she was right. I guess that's how you play the game, you find out a lot more about the person than I though. This was actually kind of fun.

"Okay, my turn," she said after swallowing her last bit of food. I got ready to pay.

"What is your most embarrassing moment?" she had a look in her eyes that spelt out mischief.

"How is that question fair? We've hardly gotten into personal details yet, " I teased, laying the yen on the counter, "Arigato, Ji!"

"Come back soon, you two," she said with a wink. I smiled politely back at her. It was now unavoidable: everyone in this village was going to know about us, so why not jumpstart it? I offered Sakura my hand as we exited the stand. At first she was hesitant, and looked at me, wondering if I was actually giving her my hand. I raised my brow at her, and she took my hand. Hers was a sharp contrast to mine, small and warm, where mine almost completely encased hers. Her skin was so soft, like the petal of a sakura itself.

"You still haven't answered my question," she blushed.

I groaned, the only way I was going to get out of this situation was answering, so I just told her the truth.

"When you distracted me from my chakara exercise and it blew up in my face," I swallowed my pride.

She swung our arms and laughed, "That's it?"

"Keep in mind that I'm not one for making a fool of myself. I try to do it as seldom as possible. I do have an image to uphold, you know."

"Ah, I guess you're right, people probably wouldn't like you if you kept doing stupid things all the time," her eyes sparkled up at me, "Where are we going now?"

"Well, it's a secret again, actually," I smirked. She blew air upward and moved a few strands of hair around violently. Her mannerisms continued to fascinate me.

I let go of her hand and jumped onto a roof. She frowned in the absence of our skin touching and quickly followed me up, perplexity written on her face.

"Where we're going, you need to be on top of the village. Follow me."

**AN: Where's Gaara taking Sakura? How will Sakura take the news of staying in Suna? Why am I asking YOU all these questions?!**

**Find out next week, on What Love Can Do!**

**Actually, I just wanted to make it seem like a tv show... really, I'm updating again tomorrow! *Insert squeel* Don't you love long weekends?!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone, I just want to start out by saying thank you for your INCREDIBLE patience. My grandfather was admitted into the intensive care unit in the hospital the day after I posted my last chapter, making it impossible for me to update until now. The good news is that he is doing better, and I don't have to visit him everyday now! I would ask for your prayers, or whatever your religious affiliation diggs, just in case though. I want to apologize 87634871234127861256 times for the LONG wait you guys have had for this chapter and I think you guys deserve so much more than what I'm giving you now. **

**You humble servant,**

**~Rubio**

"What's your favorite activity?" I asked with a smirk as we jumped over the buildings of Suna.

"Training probably," she said. I stopped when I heard that.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why is that surprising?"

"It's not, it's just my favorite too," I half smile at her, "Your turn."

"Where are we going?"

She had tried to ask that question this entire time. I wasn't giving in anytime soon, and I was wondering why she wasn't giving in either. She was stubborn just like me, it seemed.

"We are going somewhere that is special to me. Is that enough information for you?"

She grumbled, "Not really, but it's better than nothing."

I could tell that she was thinking about where we could possibly be going. The information made her stop talking though, to my dismay. We were almost there, and I was feeling really on edge about telling Sakura she was staying. When we made it to the edge of the city I made a jump up onto the outer wall of the village. I stood there and waited for Sakura.

"Is this it?" she said. I could tell her excitement over the surprise was slowly deflating.

"Turn around," I simply stated.

As Sakura turned, I saw her face light up. The entire village lay behind us, softly illuminated with lights, and above, a bright moon hovering over the Kazekage tower. The sky was painted a dark purple, and there were never clouds to block the stars that shone in the desert. I often thought and gazed at the stars here. This was my spot. It was a wide wall, enough to lie down on and still have plenty of room. But my favorite part was also the view. You could see everything in the village, and the life that seemed to emanate from it gave me hope that our village would continue to flourish.

"Wow, Gaara, this is amazing. The moon looks so big!" She turned around to face me and stared for a second. I could help but stare back, and a small smile escaped and brought itself to my lips. She shied away then, looking at the ground.

"Thank you for sharing this with me. I know how hard it probably was to do this. Open up, I mean. It's more than appreciated, believe me," she whispered the last part looking down at her hands, twisting them back and forth.

This was it. I got to tell her the news now. It was perfect timing. My face lit up and my posture suddenly became on edge.

"Sakura, I need to tell you something. It's important," I placed my hands on her shoulders.

She looked up with a puzzled but hopeful expression, "What is it? You can tell me anything Gaara," she told me tenderly. Her voice distracted me for a moment, and I got caught up in her words. I grabbed both of her hands in mine.

"Sakura, you're staying here for a while, Tsunade's orders."

"What?"

Her face became a million expressions at once and they were too fast to define them all. I wasn't expecting that reaction, though. I was thinking more along the lines of excitement, but…

"Gaara! Are you serious! This is great!" She jumped upwards and grabbed my neck into a tight hug. I panicked, not really one for hugging. Do I hug her back? I was awkwardly holding my hands out, so I decide to wrap them around her waist as was expected.

"What happened? Why did Tsunade change her mind? Please tell me this isn't a joke."

"I'm am completely serious, Sakura chan. We needed more medics in the hospital, and I have none to spare at the moment. Tsunade takes great pride in you. She told me in her letter."

She pulled out of the hug and looked me in the eye. She was beaming; so beautiful I couldn't look for too long, for fear my eyes were deceiving me.

"I can't believe it…" she murmured off to the side.

I took the opportunity to sit down, lounging back, supporting myself with my elbows. I looked up at the sky, full of stars that shone as if the sky were a big blanket over the sun with poked holes. I let out a contented sigh and crossed one leg over the other. Sakura noticed that I had sat and quickly lay down next to me. She turned onto her side, holding her head in one of her hands.

"So for how long am I staying?"

I grinned at her excited tone. "I don't even know, as long as we need you to teach new medics and help around the hospital, I assume," I stared off. I turned on my side also then, staring into sea green orbs, "Enough time, I'm sure."

She blushed and looked away at the statement. "Can we keep going with the game?"

"Sure," I laughed, amused at her quick change in subject.

"Favorite thing to do when you have to wait?"

"You've walked in on it…several times."

She looked confused for a moment. "So you play with sand?"

I couldn't help but notice how it sounded. "Well when you put it that way, I sound like I'm still a child. I like to think of it as _manipulating_ sand. See? Now I sound like the Kazekage."

"You know, you don't ever really sound like the Kazekage to me. It confuses me, it seems like you aren't very authoritative, no offense. I just am used to Tsunade yelling at everyone all the time I guess," she laughed.

" I don't want to boss people around. Only when it is absolutely necessary will I yell at anyone. I've gotten along on my own for a long time, so it's nice to finally have other people around helping me and wanting to just be with me."

Sakura was silent for a moment. She had a look on her face that let me know she was thinking.

"You amaze me Gaara Kun. You are nothing like you used to be. How did you become who you are today?"

"Ha! I could say the same thing to you, Sakura Chan. I remember that frail little girl who couldn't do anything besides think. What happened to you?"

"Tsunade happened to me."

"Naruto happened to me," I came back at her with. My thoughts turned to Sakura and how she really had changed. Much more than I had initially realized. Forward, independent, strong, and stubborn; she was a full-fledged woman.

"What are you thinking about?" She sneakily pushed the question into my mind in its distracted state.

"Hm? Oh, you," I stupidly blurted out. I had to cover myself fast, "I mean, just how you have changed."

I could tell by her expression that she only half believed me. She lifted an eyebrow and smirked. " Oh, really? And how have I changed?"

I couldn't do anything but tell the truth to her. I could never lie to Sakura about anything; she already knew what I sounded like when I did it.

"Well, you are obviously stronger, much more self reliant. Your personality is completely different, very blunt and audacious, but serious at the same time, and professional," I smiled at her and she gave me a light punch on the arm.

"I guess you're right, I have changed a lot. But you, you are leaps and bounds ahead of me in that category," I urged her on with a furrowed brow. " For instance, you are so calm! I don't know how you can do it, being Kazekage and all. And you aren't as cold as you used to be, no offense."

"None taken," I replied

"You also have the kindest heart I have ever had the joy to experience."

She wasn't looking at me anymore, but at the wall we were resting upon. I pulled her chin up with a finger, and looked at her expression. She seemed embarrassed. I smiled.

"Thank you," I whispered.

She stared for a moment, swallowing hard and nodding. I found myself being sucked into her then, something was bringing us together, and I didn't want, nor couldn't, take my hand away from her soft face. I pulled her in and she willingly complied. Suddenly something changed in her eyes, sharply focusing, and she jumped up with a gasp, hitting my head on her way up. I left out a groan and rubbed my forehead. I was too confused. What did I do wrong?

"Oh! What time is it?! I think I'm late for guard duty! I lost track of time!"

I had totally forgotten that Sakura had duty tonight. Wonderful. It completely ruined the moment we almost had. I continued rubbing my forehead and got up slowly.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry Gaara Kun! I have to run," she was ready to jump down the wall when I grabbed her arm.

"We can do this again soon?" I inquired.

Her features softened. "Of course. Tomorrow?"

I simply nodded. She dropped down from the wall and out of my sight into the shadows of the night.

I walked back to the middle of the wall and plopped down with a big sigh, "What a night…" I shook my head slowly.

** Poor Gaara, I feel bad leaving it here for you all. I should have an update by the end of next week hopefully, but sadly I can't make any promises lately. Here, we'll say I'll try my damn hardest to get out the next chapter before this coming week is out. **

**PS- Did anyone else notice the rhyming in the second to last sentence... I don't know about you, but that really bugged me...**


End file.
